Devine offers Death Row deal

Inmates who drop cop torture claims may gain freedom

September 27, 2001|By Steve Mills, Tribune staff reporter.

In a stunning turnabout, Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine has begun to discuss deals with a handful of Death Row inmates who have long-standing claims they were tortured to confess by Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his detectives, according to sources close to the cases.

The deals, the sources said, would give the convicted murderers who once faced execution a chance at freedom. But in exchange, the inmates would have to drop their claims of torture and plead guilty--even though some insist they are innocent.

Among the inmates who either have received an offer or had some discussion about a plea agreement are Derrick King, Stanley Howard, Andrew Maxwell and Aaron Patterson, according to several sources familiar with the negotiations.

In other cases, Devine's prosecutors have approached defense lawyers and, as one lawyer who is involved said, "talked about talking." Lawyers for some of the inmates, such as Madison Hobley, have not been contacted.

Maxwell, according to sources, is closest to reaching a deal. But it would call for him to still serve a significant number of years, in large part because he has other convictions. Some of the other deals under discussion could result in release much sooner, the sources said.

Devine's effort seems to have a dual purpose--heading off the possibility of additional legal victories by the defendants and putting aside a controversial matter that stubbornly remains in Cook County courts.

Guilty plea a problem

The offers present problems for the defendants and their families--particularly those who have maintained their innocence. Though they want to win their freedom, they do not want to admit guilt to something they insist they did not do.

"It just hurts my heart--that the state would give us a decision like this when my son is innocent," said the mother of one defendant. "They don't want to hear the innocent part. They just want it to go away. I don't know if it's worth it.

"I'm totally insulted and hurt. There are other ways of being free."

The allegations against Burge and his detectives are some of the most explosive in Chicago police history. For close to a decade, defendants in those cases have sought new trials and evidentiary hearings to present evidence showing their confessions were tainted by torture.

For just as long, prosecutors have vigorously opposed the efforts, arguing the defendants did not have convincing evidence of torture. Prosecutors also have disputed the defendants' innocence claims.

But over the past couple of years, several of the defendants have begun to make significant gains and win some key legal challenges.

The Illinois Supreme Court last year granted King and Patterson hearings to present evidence of their allegations.

The state's highest court also has granted Howard a hearing, in part based on documents that show his torture claims were reinvestigated by the Police Department and determined to have merit.

Police said those internal cases were later closed by top officials and the defendants were not told of the findings until much later.

Maxwell has a hearing pending before U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, who has used unusually strong language to describe allegations of torture.

"It is now common knowledge," Shadur wrote when he granted Maxwell a hearing, "that in the early- to mid-1980s, Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and many officers working under him regularly engaged in the physical abuse and torture of prisoners to extract confessions."

Finally, in January, Cook County prosecutors struck a deal with convicted murderer Darrell Cannon. In exchange for dropping his claim, Cannon pleaded guilty to a lesser charge that calls for him to be set free in 2003.

That deal was brokered as Cannon's hearing was under way--and after he had won some key rulings--but before prosecutors had put on their case, which would have involved Chicago police detectives testifying.

Lawyers in some of the cases also are being allowed to conduct depositions of some detectives and other investigative work that may shed more light on what happened in the South Side violent crime squad that Burge led.

Beatings, shocks alleged

Among the claims by the defendants are that they confessed only after they were beaten, had guns pointed at them, were subjected to electric shocks or nearly suffocated by Burge or his detectives placing typewriter covers over their heads.

Burge was fired by the Chicago Police Board in 1993 for his role in the torture of Andrew Wilson while Wilson was being questioned in the murders of two police officers. Wilson was convicted and sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned. He was convicted again and got a life sentence.

Devine's efforts to reach deals also come as defense attorneys and others are seeking to have a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Burge-related cases. They argue that Devine, who once appeared in court with Burge because his law firm was defending him, has a conflict.

Moreover, they say the issue needs to be thoroughly investigated and publicly aired with an eye toward criminal charges against some of the key players.

Devine, in court papers, has argued that statutes of limitations make any prosecution impossible. He says, too, that the torture charges have not been proved.